14 DAY TRIAL // Arras and Reims are another set of towns that suffered a lot during the First World War, and the stage that’s built around them is one of those that breakaway specialists probably have marked before the start of this year’s edition of Le Tour de France.
At the moment, the battle for the Yellow Jersey, which shows who the race leader is, is on hold as smaller teams try to show off their own colors and maybe secure a big win.
The ground around the locations of the Battle of the Somme and the Chemin des Dames seems like a perfect place for a strong group to quickly form and then dominate the stage and contest the victory.
Breakaway riders need to have strong legs, a lot of stamina and a positive mindset.
Their job is to speed away, draw some other cyclists with them, evaluate the power of the group and then decide whether this move can be successful in the long term or if they should abandon it and try to join another better attack later in the stage.
There are more bumps on the road than the map shows, and a number of riders might be able to use the wind to their advantage.
My plan for Trek Factory Racing is to sit tight and let others worry about this stage, although if I do spot a really good opportunity to get a stage win I will do so.
Cycling is all about risk and reward, and often the stages that do not seem important at their start can be crucial to an entire three-week Grand Tour.
The situation is somewhat complicated by the fact that I have the Yellow Kersey, and the cycling etiquette requires my team to get to the front of the bunch and try to control things, which means that my supporting riders will become more tired than they should be.
This is exactly what I did for a number of kilometers, foiling two separate escape attempts, but I then decided to rest my team as much as possible and let the sprinter teams worry about victory.
The breakaway never managed to get a solid time gap, and in the end, the French managed to record their first victory via Arnaud Demare.
The video this time around focuses on the early moments of the stage and shows how hard it can be to create a solid breakaway in Pro Cycling Manager 2014.
